Cartoonists sentenced over ‘insult’

Two cartoonists at a Turkish satirical magazine have been fined for insulting president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Penguen weekly said cartoonists Bahadir Baruter and Ozer Aydogan were each ordered to pay 7,000 Turkish lira (£1,800). They had initially been sentenced to 11 months in prison, but this was commuted to a fine.

The pair are the latest to be prosecuted for alleged insults to Mr Erdogan as Turkey cracks down on freedom of expression and silences critical voices.

They were on trial for a cartoon published in August depicting newly-elected Mr Erdogan arriving at his palace and criticising aides for not slaughtering journalists at the inauguration.

The court deemed that an aide in the cartoon was drawn making an obscene Turkish hand gesture and considered it an insult to Mr Erdogan.